Improvement in thill-couplings



W. W. ANDERSON.

TMll-Couplings.

No.l49,282.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM ANDERSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN THlLL-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 149,282, dated April 7', 1874; application tiled February 24, 1874.

To all 'whom t may concern Beit known that LWILLIAM W. ANDERSON, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shaft-Couplings for Oarriages; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my coupling. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the same in position as when the horse is attached. Fig. 3 is a similar elevation, showing the shaft in position as when the ends are resting upon the ground. 1

This invention relates to that class of shaftcouplings which are designed to be easily detachable, and it is an improvement upon the inventions patented to me 17th November, 1868, No. 84,077, and 22d November, 1870, No. 109,484, to which reference is hereby made for afull and particular description ofthe general construction and operation of my invention. It consists in so constructing that portion of the shaft-iron which is w-ithin the clip and immediately back of the coupling-bolt of such thickness as will almost entirelyT fill the space behind said bolt, the object being to relieve the spring part of the joint from strain upon a sudden stoppage or backward movement of the horse.

That others may fully understand my invention, I will particularly describe it.

A is the carriage-axle, and B is the shaft. In Figs. 1 and 3 the shalt is shown in position as when resting on the ground at the forward end. C is the clip, constructed as ordinarily, with the pivot-bolt riveted in or otherwise rigidly secured. The spring-leaf D forms one part of the couplerjoint, and the shaft-iron E forms the other part, the said joint being always kept tight and in snug working order by the elasticity of the said spring, though the labor of draft is performed by the part E,which is behind the joint-bolt when the parts are in operative position, as shown in Fig. 2; but it is apparent that the labor of stopping the carriage when moving rapidly forward, or of causing it to move backward, would be sustained by the spring-leaf D, were not other provision made to support it. I therefore construct the shaft-iron E with a re-enforce or abutment, e, placed so that when the shaft is in working position, as in Fig. 2, the space within the clip will be almost entirely filled, and a backward pressure of the shaft will be sustained by the cont-actl of said re-enforce with the back of the clipO, when the spring D has yielded but a very little, and hence there will be no risk whatever of overstrainiug or breaking the said spring by the sudden stopping of the carriage or any violent backward movement of the same.

One of the objects of my invention is the easy removal of the shaft-coupling from the clip by merely liberating the spring D at a time when the extremities of the shafts rest upon the ground. As shown in Fig. 3, the presence of the re-enforce c will not impede, in any way, the easy removal, as above stated. When the extremities of the shafts rest upon the ground, said re-enforce is so far removed from the clip that the shaft-iron may be lifted o' from the joint-bolt 5 but when the shafts are in operative position, as shown in Fig. 2, the shaft-iron could not be detachedfrom the joint-bolt of the clip, even though the spring-leaf D should be entirely removed. By placing the reenforce e within the clip, and permanently attached thereto, the same result would be imperfectly attained, as the same facility of removal would not then be secured. In other respects, however, it would secure the same advantage and be the same invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new is- The combination, with theclip C and springleaf D, of the shaft-iron E, having the re-enforce e, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

` WVM. W. ANDERSON.

Vitnesses N. R. LYNCH, G. Z. PARsoNs. 

